Comments on: Red Hat culture tip: default to open

By: Burney

Burney — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 04:43:08 +0000

Why don’t you guys get a room?

By: Donnie Barnes

Donnie Barnes — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 03:25:10 +0000

Bah, I don’t know about the smart dude thing, but I’ve been lucky to surround myself with smart people.

I sure didn’t realize the impact it would have, but I knew leaving it wouldn’t be a step in the right direction. I was quite sad to hear that the move was happening, but it is great to hear that the idea is coming back and proving just as successful as it was!

One day I’ll be smart, but only because I read blogs like yours. :-)

By: cdgrams

cdgrams — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 03:22:11 +0000

Hi Donnie! You are entirely correct, we designed our space in our current building by copying the design of our old space, alcoves and all (which was probably inspired by the way open source mailing lists worked, default to sending thoughts to everyone, rather than just sending emails to a single person). I agree, moving into the Meridian office changed the company from a collaboration POV. At the time, I’m not sure if you realized what an impact this design would have, but in my mind it was one of the defining elements that created the Red Hat culture that still exists today.

It’s funny… I always hesitate to write posts like this, because for those close to open source this default to open concept is totally obvious. But as I mentioned, it’s become clear to me that it is not obvious to everyone…

For others reading this blog, Donnie Barnes, who made this comment, was one of the first five Red Hat employees. And also one heck of a smart dude…

By: Donnie Barnes

Donnie Barnes — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 02:53:48 +0000

You’ll have to pardon my annoyance on this one, but you just described the ENTIRE Red Hat headquarters before you moved into your current building (Meridian Parkway). Lisa, Marc, Manoj, and myself designed that space just about exactly as you describe. Bob and Matthew both had cubes just like everyone else. Heck, Matthew even moved his cube around somewhat randomly every few months to be “inside” different groups of the company.

It worked great, too, until the much cheaper (and supposedly sexier) building became available where you are now that was already carved up into a bajillion crazy offices with very little place to do something like you’ve got now.

I’d say almost every person who had an office at our previous spot on TW Alexander absolutely HATED going to a cube at the new spot when we first did it. I also heard from almost every person most vocal against it later that they thought it was the greatest single thing we ever changed in our company. I actually think Lisa and Marc take most of the credit for the idea, too. Manoj didn’t care as long as we could get our furniture cheap and I was quickly convinced of the merits. But even then I think they stole the idea from somewhere else. :-)

But your point is right on. Default to open. It’s a mindset that you have to beat into people in some ways, but it is worth the pain.